In March, attendees at the annual ACTE National Policy Seminar (NPS) got more than they bargained for. With a new hotel and a completely reorganized agenda, career and technical educators were more than energized to bring the career and technical education (CTE) message to Capitol Hill. This year marked the first time ACTE held a special briefing…

This position paper observes the impact of "Proposition 227", California's "English for the Children" initiative, on the professional development of teachers of English Learners. It draws on information I obtained while working as an evaluator of the California Teacher Institutes (CTIs), a network of institutes aimed to enhance…

In colleges of agriculture leadership education is one area of study where enrollment and demand are outstripping the capacity of institutions to deliver the coursework. However, few faculty members are prepared to teach leadership contextually based in agriculture. Responding to this challenge, the Leadership Education Institute (LEI) for faculty…

This report investigates a number of education and training programs involving employers in efforts to help disadvantaged young adults attain post-secondary credentials leading to career track employment. For the purposes of this report, the authors define credentials to mean credit and non-credit industry-recognized certifications, associate…

The Preservice Teacher Institute (PTI) is a budding learning community designed to provide mentoring and support for senior elementary education undergraduate candidates. This program is an effective paradigm for mentoring and inducting new teachers into the profession. PTI is a two-semester program. The first semester is restricted to candidates…

The notion that "teachers of writing must also write" has been pervasive since the 1970s. But "what" should they write? In the National Writing Project (NWP), a professional network focused on the improvement of writing instruction and featuring summer institutes in which teachers engage in writing of their own as well as demonstrations of…

The decade since publication of "Place as Text: Approaches to Active Learning" has seen an explosion of interest and productivity in the field of experiential education. This monograph presents a story of an experiment and a blueprint of sorts for anyone interested in enriching an existing program or willing to experiment with pedagogy…

Graduates of the six regional 2007 "We the People: Project Citizen" professional development summer institutes were surveyed to determine how useful they found their institute experience, and to the extent to which their participation at the Center-sponsored institutes influenced their teaching of civics and government. The study was…

Although peer review has been shown to be beneficial in many writing classrooms, the benefits of peer review to the reviewer, or the student giving feedback, has not been thoroughly investigated in second-language writing research. The purpose of this study is to determine which is more beneficial to improving student writing: giving or receiving…

A 6-week summer training program in educational research was conducted for 30 participants (most of them school administrators or supervisors) from New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. Morning classes were held in statistical analysis, learning and the educational process, and experimental research design. Afternoon sessions involved group…

Presents the history of the mechanics' institutes of British Columbia, a significant step in the development of adult education in Canadian history. (AN)

Despite the popularity of leadership education on college campuses, little is known about what individual participants learn and remember. This longitudinal study examines the impact of a leadership education retreat through the eyes of six undergraduate college men. Entry and exit interviews, along with intensive one and two year follow-up…

In this article, the author reviews Train to Gain's service and exposes a number of myths about the programme. Since its initial national roll out in September 2006 people have seen encouraging take up, with more than 53,000 employers and 230,000 learners benefiting from Train to Gain. A key element of Train to Gain is the skills brokerage…